Category: Believe in the One Who saves

Superficial Christianity


Have you ever been accused of being a superficial Christian? Why do I ask? Because it seems that today that is exactly what most of professing “Christians” really are. They listen to sermons and maybe read a verse or two of Scripture and maybe even get baptized at some point but then they pull out their cell phones and forget what the sermon was about. Do they read the Bible after church and pray for God’s guidance in their lives on a daily basis? Only God knows the answer to that question. Are they real Christians in their hearts or just pretending? Still, only God knows for sure.

themissingpieceMany people play at church and many of them think that they are saved because until you can see a real change in their lives and hear it in their speech or in their actions, you truly cannot tell. Some of them can pretend so well that those around them may not be able to tell if there is a change happening in their lives or one which has already happened. Now, don’t read something into my writing which isn’t here! I am not saying that a certain percentage of people who claim Christ as their Savior are really not saved.

What I am saying is that there are a number of people who are very shallow in their Christianity. Like children, they are in the wading pool or maybe in ankle deep in the surf but they feel comfortable being there. Many, if not most, will never venture any further in their walk with Jesus. Which is a shame because being a Christian is more than having your own salvation, it is about telling or showing others what a life with Christ in it can be!

We have been given the most valuable gift in the history of the world…forgiveness and eternal life to go with it! Why in the world would you hold that like a spoiled child and not tell others how they can have it too? It didn’t cost us anything, yet it is the most precious gift that anyone could receive and because it is worth more than all the wealth in the world…why not give it away?

God has plenty of room in His Kingdom and all we should do is tell others what Jesus has done for us and how they can have this too! I know that the Truth in the Bible is not the truth that everyone wants to hear. Nor do they want to know about our Savior because they don’t believe that He is the Savior!

But consider this…if you did have access to one trillion dollars would you keep it all to yourself? No, the government would get a huge chunk of it in taxes, but even then you would have hundreds of billions of dollars left. There is only so much stuff that you can get before it is just…well stuff! Of course if you had all of that wealth, you would have more friends and kinfolk than you ever knew you had, so for me I would find a place back in the mountains somewhere and hide…but then what? You can’t hide forever!

Jesus told His disciples to go and tell others about the salvation which comes through belief in Him. We aren’t to beat them with a Bible or have a temper tantrum because they won’t listen, just tell them what He has done for you. If they want it great! If they decide that they have time to wait, maybe they will hear it another time or place. The problem we face today is that we are coming to the end of the age of Grace. I have no idea when He will come back and I have no idea when He will call the believers in the world up to Heaven as the Scriptures tell us.

So…what are you waiting for? Have you been guaranteed time on this Earth? Do you know for sure that you have another week or a month or maybe a year to live? I may die in a car wreck tomorrow, my wife may get killed at the place where she works, my son might get killed in a car accident next week. We are not guaranteed tomorrow. Think about it and then seek Him.13239362_10154180220593879_708192815796487421_n

500 years of Protestant religion


MartinLutherToday marks this anniversary and it is a good one because of what Paul wrote in his letter to the Roman church. We don’t have to give money to a specific church or doctrine or denomination in order for us to be saved. Jesus accomplished that for all of us on the cross by paying in full the debt which each person owes for their sins. Not just since His death and resurrection, but all the way back to Adam, the debt was paid and He led the captives free from bondage to sin or to an eternity in Hades or Abraham’s Bosom whichever you prefer.

Paul wrote the book of Romans to the church in Rome but so many have benefitted from its wonderful message over the centuries and it is because of the message contained within it. We are saved by the grace of God and not by anything which we do ourselves, period. Granted the beginning of that sentence is from the book of Ephesians, but Paul wrote that one as well. My point is that there is no amount of work or money or “Hail Mary’s” or prayer or lighted candles which will bring Heaven any closer to you or for your eternity. It is the power of God’s grace through faith in Jesus which saves your soul and nothing else!

Romans 5:6-8
“For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

Jesus died for us, most of us, before we were ever born into this world! But, God knew each of us and our ability to serve Him and what we would do with Jesus in our hearts and it is for this reason that each of us who belong to HIm was called to become a Christian. Faith and belief in God and Jesus is what has brought salvation to many people through the ages, from Abraham on through the Old Testament, every person who was considered the least bit righteous did so because of their belief in God and His promises.

Belief and obedience to His Word was more important to God than all of the sacrifices in the temple. This is why believing in Jesus is so important for us today. The Bible is not just a book about the history of the Jewish people, it is God’s letter of love toward all people! Occasionally it is hard to understand, but with prayer and persistence it can be understood. Some of the concepts in the Bible are outdated today such as slavery but we do still have slavery in our world today, so it is relevant.

So many of our historical books are dated, yet the Spirit of God flows through the Bible and gives each person reading it a different message in their time of need. No matter what you are going through, there is a verse or chapter in the Bible which will give you comfort and direction if you will read it and pray for God to show you what He wants you to see in His Word for your situation.

The Protestant reformation brought about many good things, such as a printed version of God’s Word which any person who could read could also understand and believe in Jesus for salvation. Give God the glory for this accomplishment in our world and thank Him for calling you into His family.

Amen

How does God feel about me?


My title here seems to be a silly one actually. I mean come on! God loves each and every person on this Earth! His Son came and died for ALL of our sins, not for just a few! What sort of God would do such a thing? Give part of Himself over to live as a human being on a ball of earth and water just to die on a cross for our sins? He is our Creator and our Redeemer and our Savior, that is the God that we serve!

1533781_811048015579131_2056361741_nBut…what if you don’t believe this? What can you say about God and His love for you if you haven’t trusted Jesus as your Savior? If you are in that position, then I suggest that you seek Him out for your salvation soon. Because the time of grace which the world has enjoyed for the past two thousand years or so is coming to an end. I won’t be presumptuous or vain enough to even try to give you an idea of a date or year in which He will return, but He is coming soon.

I can give you an example of His promise for Israel, which also applies to us today. This was given to the prophet Jeremiah around the time of Judah’s captivity in Babylon:

10 For thus saith the LORD, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place. 11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. 12 Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. 13 And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart. 14 And I will be found of you, saith the LORD: and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith the LORD; and I will bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive. (Jeremiah 29: 10-14)

The “expected end” which God is talking about here is for the children of Israel to come out of Babylon and to have learned to trust God and serve Him instead of other gods as they had been doing since coming into the promised land.

God also has our life and our outcome in His hands as well. Believing in His grace for your life is required and if you have faith to believe in Him for your salvation, then you are already there. God can and does use us in His Kingdom iF we will listen to Him and follow His lead in doing His will.

Is it possible for us to be this obedient? Yes, if you will follow God’s will for your life. Many people come to church to get their “fire insurance” in order to stay out of hell, but the real problem comes along when those same people claim that they are saved and then their life doesn’t show a change from before they accepted Jesus.

I don’t mean that you are judging their salvation but whether it was genuine. Why do I say this? Because IF there is a true change in their heart through the Holy Spirit, there is no way that they can turn back to their old way of life or their sinful ways which held them in bondage before their salvation! Because when the Holy Spirit makes a change in your heart, you can’t undo it…it is permanent.

Why go to church?


Sometimes you hear this from people, usually young people, who have been brought to church most of their lives. When they get to college age or at least 18, they think that they really don’t need it anymore. The problem is that in college or at a job you will be exposed to other ways of thinking and other philosophies which may not line up with what you were taught in church at a young age. Some of what you will hear in college will be totally opposite and even opposed to the idea of God. So…why should you go to church? Because family is important, especially to God!

Good deedsWhether you have accepted Jesus as your Savior or not, the church is a family. An extended family, but a family nonetheless. Why do I call the church a family? Because we are linked to each other by the blood of Jesus our Savior! Through Him we are adopted into God’s family, we are joint heirs with Christ! The idea of the church being your family isn’t so far-fetched because it is in the Bible, just follow the link above!

Each one of us has a job to do in God’s Kingdom, particularly if you have given your heart to Him and asked Jesus into your life, if you haven’t then you need Him now more than ever! Why do I say it that way? Because we are coming to the end of the age, as Jesus put it, and you don’t really have much time. It may be another five or ten years yet, but when the Tribulation begins it will be even harder for people to become Christians. Not impossible mind you, but much harder because the world will be much more abusive of Christians at that time, to the point of killing them if they don’t take the mark of the antiChrist who will be ruling the world.

Why come to church? Because if you don’t know Jesus already, then you need to get to know Him soon! It is much easier to get to know Jesus among people who already know Him than it is to find out about Him from those who don’t even know Who He is. Don’t waste your life living without Him because eternity only comes to those who know Jesus as their Savior. Others who die without Him will live into eternity…but in anguish and pain because they didn’t know Him in this life.

God has given us all the ability to know Him and be known by Him if we will believe in Him and follow Him in our life. Living through Jesus and with Him in our lives each day is not hard to do, but you have to determine to do so. Even if you are a Christian and believe in Jesus, taking Him with you into the world is something which you have to determine to do, as Jesus said “take up your cross daily and follow Me“.

Do you have Jesus in your heart as your Savior? If you have believed in Him for salvation and asked His forgiveness in your sinful life then you do have Him. But walking in His ways and living by His statutes and teachings is part of the life of a Christian which each of us has to decide to do each day. It doesn’t happen automatically and it isn’t easy to do, yet many people think that they do this every day, even when they don’t. Read God’s Word and find your life and your purpose in Him, then determine to walk in Him and in His strength each day.

Which gift do you have?


When we become Christians and allow the Holy Spirit into our hearts to change us from the inside out, God grants us each at least one gift and possibly more. So, which gift do you have? In the Bible they are called the fruit of the Spirit but we all exhibit at least one of these nine gifts: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Paul said that “against these there is no law”, so which fruit do you have?

In truth, we should all exhibit each of these to a certain extent. If you have truly given your heart to Jesus and allowed the Spirit to come into your heart and change you into the child of God that you are supposed to be, then at some point in your life, whether it is daily or weekly, you should express at least one or two of these. Yes, the world around us does not like Christians today and many of them don’t want to hear about Jesus or see any expression of these gifts, but that shouldn’t keep you from using them.

These gifts are, many times, the evidence which separates believers from non believers. I don’t mean to imply that people of other faiths can’t be loving or joyful or kind because anyone can exhibit those traits in their life, they are not unique to Christians. The difference is that we can do so even in trials and heartache because we have hope in Jesus! He went through many heartaches in the time that He lived on Earth so our Savior knows what it feels like and He cares for you and me!

The spiritual gifts which Christians have is part of our salvation through Jesus, what we use them for and how we express them is part of our service to Him. Pray about your life in Jesus and ask Him what you are to do with your gifts.

Do you live in safety?


angelswatchingoverusIt is a scary thing to think that you are safe and then find out that you are not. When a gunshot goes off near your home or maybe someone breaks into your house and steals some of your possessions, your feelings of safety go away in an instant. Then what? Do you react to this and get a better door or a better lock for your door? Do you get a gun to protect yourself and your family? Should you get some training to use that gun in case it comes to that one day?

All of these questions are valid in our time today, but what good will it do? People who rob your home usually do so when you aren’t at home. If they confront you at the gas station, what good will that gun and training do if you can’t reach your gun? Safety in our world today is fleeting and tenuous and the only productive way to deal with it is to allow it! What??! Just back up and let them have your stuff!!

Yes. Stuff can be replaced up to a point, your wife and son and your own life cannot be!

Living in safety is an illusion in the best of times and the times that we live in are not the best of times. Yes, there are people who can pass a background check who snap and then they do a lot of damage and kill many people. Many times, we never find out why they did it because they either kill themselves or they cause the police to kill them and there is no real explanation for their violence.

Hate, racial tension, racist views of all kinds are sometimes considered to be the motivation of these tragedies. Sometimes even religious fanaticism is the reason behind them. Safety in our world today depends upon our diligence in being careful about our surroundings and how we present ourselves in those surroundings. Does prayer help? Yes, it does. Does being a Christian help you to be safe? I think so.

Why? Because God watches over those who belong to Him. He sends angels to watch over each of us who are part of His family. Their presence is felt by those intending to do us harm, whether they are demons or spirits or even people who are being influenced by those spirits. I don’t say this so that you can fly to Iraq or Iran and insert yourself into the area thinking that you won’t be harmed because of God’s Presence in your life, I mean lets use a little common sense!

God does want us to take His message to the world, to those who don’t know Him yet, but we don’t have to be idiotic about getting into a war zone or in an area where Christians are despised by most and killed on sight by some! There are places in America where I wouldn’t get into at night or day because of the violence which is happening in those areas either, but wouldn’t Jesus go there if He was here in person?

Yes, He would but He is the Son of God and our Creator! He can’t die! As I said, we aren’t supposed to be lacking wisdom in our endeavors for His Kingdom. But we are supposed to try to take Him to as many as possible while we have the time. God cares about us and our safety, but He cares about those who will die without knowing Jesus even more. Take Jesus with you everywhere. At work, at school, to the McDonald’s or whichever place you go out to eat, anywhere that people see you they should know that you are a Christian.

Am I asking you to get up an preach in all of these places? No, but give thanks for your food and someone will notice. Read a scripture on your Kindle app on your phone or on your Kindle. Wear a T-shirt which loudly proclaims that you belong to the King of Kings! Why? Because everyone around us is proclaiming their views and their beliefs and this is no time to be timid about being a Christian! Should we be radical about it? No! I don’t mean to march down the street with signs and shouting or bombs and such, but this is not the time to be the meek of the Earth either! God loves us and everyone else, but if you don’t tell them…how will they know that He loves them?

Why worry?


Good deedsJesus told His disciples not to worry about tomorrow or about things which you have no control over, so why do we do it? During my life I have noticed that we tend to worry about things which are just out of our reach and our control and it seems to be just part of the human condition to do so. Worry serves no real purpose except to spur us on toward attempting to fix different problems.

Occasionally, fretting about something will help us to seek the solution, maybe even give us a bit of insight into an eternal solution for our real problem. What about when your anxiety turns into something which almost feels like you could be a killer? What do you do then? At this point I think we should step back and read in the Psalms for a while, clear your head and your soul of the negative emotion which anxiety can bring on and just meditate on God’s Word.

Why is that important? Because, God’s Word can heal your mind and open your heart to His grace and mercy. That’s why it is important to keep His Word close to you and read it when you are having problems, no matter what the size of the problem! Anxiety and worry are two sides of the same coin and they are both concerned with things which you can’t control. Some of those worrisome thoughts are of a kind which can derail almost any plan.

But, God is faithful to heal your mind and shield you from the enemy if you will keep your part of the equation going. By that I mean reading His Word and meditating on it every day, particularly when things aren’t going the way they should.

God loves each of us and for those who have given their hearts to Jesus, we have access to His strength and His comfort through whatever life may put in our paths. Will it make life easier? No, it will make some things harder to do because Satan and his demons will try to stop you or place things in your pathway to slow you down. When you are a Christian, the world does not like you. Satan hates you because you belong to Jesus now and you may cause other people to become Christians too.

Each of us has a part to play, just as each part of your body does its part to work and run together effectively. Each one of us is capable of doing that in the body of Christ while we are doing His will in our lives. The only way that we can do these things for God’s Kingdom is to allow Him to work through us, every day. No matter where you may work or what you do, do it as if you were doing it for Jesus.

Don’t get discouraged because of bills or your health, just pray about them and give them to Jesus. Let Him work in your life, in your bills and in your health and in His time to bring about His solution for you. Don’t get ahead of Him and don’t try to do it for Him either because, even though that is hard to do, if you do try to do it for Him, your solution will fail because you didn’t let Him do the work.

Which Jesus do you know?


There are many versions you know. Some of them are radical clerics who will tell you that Jesus wouldn’t vote for this candidate or that law or this proposition. Some will tell you that Jesus, or at least the One that they preach, wouldn’t condone the killing of babies in the womb, that one I do believe! Sometimes the Jesus which is preached in pulpits on Sunday or even on Saturday if that is your Sabbath day, sounds as if He would go along with almost anything that the right or the left or whichever direction your pastor is leaning which is being reported this week.

Have you ever really found out about the Son of God and Who He is? Does your pastor even know the real Jesus or His viewpoints on sin and salvation? In many churches it seems that there are many Christians, pastors, deacons and members alike, who really don’t know Who Jesus really is today! This is the very reason which, in my opinion, is causing the decline of so many churches in attendance and causing them to close their doors. Is it possible that we have created our own version of Jesus and placed Him at the head of the table, in front of the congregation and declared that this is your Savior?

When He walked through Palestine almost two thousand years ago, Jesus sought out those who were marginalized, those who were persecuted, those who weren’t allowed to climb the steps of the Temple let alone enter it to worship! He taught those people who we would consider outsiders and even vagabonds, the ones who were lame and addicted to substances even then. He went to the lepers who had to walk around yelling “Unclean!”, what an embarrassing way to have to walk through town.

The clothes which Jesus taught in werePsalm23 dirty from the dust and the water at the shores of Lake Galilee. He didn’t look like He just stepped out of a dry cleaners, with His clothes all white and glowing. In many of our churches today, Jesus would not be allowed in because of His dress and His hair and beard, because He would look like a homeless person. Even He said that “the Son of Man has not a place to lay His head“.

Would Jesus be seen as a radical cleric today? In many ways, yes He would. He would be in the shelters and in the parts of the city where “church people” are afraid to go. Why are we afraid to go to these places? Is it because of our dress? Is it because of our jewelry or our cars? Why can’t we enter into the places where those in need are? Is it because we don’t feel that we belong there or that we won’t fit in because of our race?

In today’s society and the culture which has developed in our country in the past few decades, it is true that we are divided by race or skin color and also by culture. We are not a society which has gotten past our collective wrongdoing in the past, simply because we have ignored it or brushed it behind the door or under a rug. We have done this with the pretense of being enlightened and better than our past, but we never really learned the lesson of our past.

When you choose to ignore a lesson in school or in life, you will repeat it. There is no possibility of not repeating it. Life and experience are hard teachers, just as Jesus was a taskmaster in the Temple when He ran the money changers from the court of the Gentiles! Except, He was doing this from His love of the people who were coming there to worship and not out of bitterness.

God loves us, regardless of our clothes or our car or our house. Stuff doesn’t matter to the Creator, it is your heart which makes the difference and where your heart is in serving Him. If you are in conflict between being popular and having money or serving God and His Kingdom, pick God’s Kingdom. Stuff like popularity and money are temporary and only work here in this life. Eternity is a very long, long time and if you aren’t prepared for it by trusting in Jesus and His atonement for you then you are wasting His time.

Humor, it is a difficult concept.


It feels strange writing words which I heard first in a movie about the Federation of Planets and Star Trek. My blog has nothing to do with science or fiction, but I thought I would start off this way, if for no other reason than to get your attention.

joyHumor and laughter have been proven to be beneficial to our health, mostly in ways that doctors can’t really explain. It does release endorphins which ease pain and it has been shown to help in healing with some cancers and other injuries such as surgical and other breaks in the skin and bone. Here is a quote from one of many sites which give the benefits of laughter: “Laughter decreases stress hormones and increases immune cells and infection-fighting antibodies, thus improving your resistance to disease. Laughter triggers the release of endorphins, the body’s natural feel-good chemicals. Endorphins promote an overall sense of well-being and can even temporarily relieve pain.”

In the stressful times that we live in, sometimes humor is not appropriate and it may cause hurt feelings and anger. Used wrongly, anything good can cause problems, even humor or religion. So, how do we live our lives daily in light of the effects of our beliefs or the effect of laughter? Some might say that you have to live circumspectly. What the heck is that? It is a big word meaning “cautious” living. The definition of it is this: Near synonyms are prudent and cautious, though circumspect implies a careful consideration of all circumstances and a desire to avoid mistakes and bad consequences.

Why should we be cautious in our living on a daily basis? Because today everyone that you meet has a small movie camera and a recording device called a cell phone. Anything that you say or do in front of people is very likely to be posted at some point whether you like it or not! But…Jesus told us to take His Message to the world! So, how can we do that?

One person at a time. I know that is limiting in our reach to those who don’t know Him, but in any town or city today there isn’t a huge crowd of people who will be receptive of His salvation message. Many of them will call it “hate speech” and try to have you arrested or maybe beat you up like they did Paul and Silas. Yes, in these days that we are living in now, life and living is getting to be a hard to understand prospect in light of our mission given to us by Jesus.

God loves each person, regardless of their belief or lack of belief in Jesus or even whether they believe that God exists. Yet, we are supposed to take His message to the world as best as we can. Whether we do it by means like this or by going in person and telling others about our Lord and Savior. One person at a time is the best way to go, maybe two if you can get them to listen. Jesus said to His disciples: Go into all the world; and that is what we should be doing, every day.

Do you see?


At times, we do see the problems around us or at home or at church, but at other times, where we seem to be blind to the happenings and the life which is there…right in front of us. Why can’t we see? Sometimes it is because we are being selfish, other times it is because we choose not to see. But if you are a Christian, why would you choose not to see what is wrong with the world around you?

Elisha prayed so that his servant would see that they were not in as much danger as he thought. In 2 Kings chapter six where this took place, Elisha had preached in Israel what God had told him to, but the king of Syria, Ben-Hadad, warred with Israel. Just prior to this encampment, Elisha had prayed for Naaman who was a leader in Syria’s army who had leprosy. God healed him and when he departed, Elisha’s servant had gone out to receive some of the payment which he had brought to Elisha.

Greed can blind you to many things and that is what happened here. Gehazi was coveting the silver and the garments which Naaman had brought as gifts for his healing. The Lord struck him with leprosy just as the Syrian had when he came for his greed. In many ways, we are like this servant. We desire something in this life which doesn’t have any spiritual benefit to us or for those around us such as wealth or lands or just more stuff. You can hear and see that stuff has become a real problem in America today because of all the self-storage units that are being built every month.

Getting back to our story, even though Gehazi was stricken with leprosy for his greed, it seems that he served his master for many years. No doubt because Elisha prayed for his healing after he learned his lesson about greed. It isn’t mentioned in the Bible, but considering that leprosy was a death sentence on anyone who had it, I believe that he was likely healed later.

The topic is “Do you see?”, so what do we see in this world? Poverty, hunger, wars, famines, loss of life in many ways, actually the list could go on and on from here. My point is this: why do we not see? In America, we have been spoken of in history as a Christian nation because that is how our country came to be. People in England fled their country because of religious persecution so they could worship in freedom and in the way that they chose.

So, why don’t we see the things around us which we could do something about? Do we choose not to see the things which we could help with because of our greed and selfishness? Are we so blind to the suffering around us because we don’t want to see it or just because we walk in this world with spiritual blinders on? In the link above to a part of 2 Kings where Elisha’s servant is anxious about the army surrounding Jerusalem, he cannot see what Elisha can. So, Elisha prays for him to be able to see into the spiritual world and he finds that God’s army was far more formidable than those who surrounded the city.

In our lives today, we can’t see what is happening in our world spiritually. Some would say this is a good thing because we would be scared out of our wits if we could see the spiritual warfare and the beings which are here and all around us on a daily basis. Honestly, I believe that it would open many people’s eyes to the fact of their own frailty and the reason that they need Jesus. But, God has chosen not to allow our sight to be opened in that way for a reason.

Pray that God will show you His will in your life through His Word because the days are drawing closer to that time which is prophesied at the end of the age. We don’t know the day or the hour until that time comes, but God doesn’t lie and the time is swiftly approaching, so don’t hesitate. Call on Jesus for your salvation and seek Him out for your deliverance because He is the only way to be saved from the punishment which comes after you leave this world.